As part of the ongoing EU Life + website the staff on
Havergate are re –designing the saline lagoons. Anyone who has visited
Havergate will know that the islands suffer from significant cliffing in places
and that part of the island is virtually impossible to see into from the hides.
There...

So, after 23 years of service the October Storm is being retired. Well, not retired but definitely overhauled.
It’s been 23 years of faithful service she has seen storm surges to glorious sunny days, a succession of different skippers and ferried out what must be well in to the 1000’s...

Here as promised is a collection of videos from the island.
Little Stint on Havergate, courtesy of David Fairhurst, Nov 2011
Definately an unsual record for Havergate in November but in a county contact they do overwinter. Having overwintered in other estuaries in the past 20 years or so. Little...

Its been something of a purple patch for birds on the Havergate reserves for birds over the last week or so.
The highlights include a rough legged buzzard (twice), a short eared owl, a couple of hen harriers, a firecrest, two whooper swans and at least one spotted redshank. There has also been some...

I doubt anyone will have failed to notice the cold temperatures in England over the last week. This has had a huge impact on wildlife locally, nationally and internationally.
One of the most dramatic impacts of the weather around the estuary has been the total freezing of most of the other reserves...

Its been a while since I blogged about anything to do with the island and with the weather looking increasingly unsettled over the next few days, now seems like as good a time as any.
The breeding season is well and truly wrapped up and as such attention turned to migrant waders and summering spoonbills...

If visitor trips where football or cricket teams then the trips out to Havergate would be described as being in a bad run of form!
The last three trips have all had to be cancelled due to a combination of factors. The December visit due to snow, ice and freezing conditions and the January and February...

April 1 st heralds the start of a four year
European grant in association with the National Trust on Orford Ness. The LIFE+ grant will allow us to undertake much needed works on the island including
replacing all of the tidal sluices which were hand made by the previous
site manager John Partridge...

I appreciate that for some not being able to visit Havergate is a source of tremendous frustration, so I will do my best to bring some kind of flavour of what's going on, on the island at the moment.
Currently Havergate island is undergoing the biggest change of a generation with both lagoons...

The breeding season continues a pace on the island. However, firstly I must break some bad news. In my last blog piece I reported that the island was playing host to 23 Avocets the highest breeding number in some time, however between the dates 14 th to the 16 th of July all the nests where predated...

As people who visit the website will be aware, the island closed its doors to the general public at the beginning of October this is to enable the contractors to access the island and carry out the vital works as part of the EU life+ project. It is my pleasure and excitement to be able to announce that...

Whilst the island is still shut to the general public bird life on Havergate has continued. Highlights so far include wintering spoonbills, shorelarks and short eared owls.
Its interesting how spoonbill wintering ecology in Suffolk is beginning to change and especially in the Alde- Ore estuary.
...

After 5 months, the earthwork and engineering work on Havergate is complete. Now after the changes, comes the hard part, namely using the new sluices and island layout to increase the ecological effectiveness of the reserve.
It will be worth keeping an eye on both the RSPB website and the Alde –...

One of Havergate's star species but also one of its hardest to see as quietly gone about having a great year.
Starlet Sea anemone's have almost every protection and status imaginable. They have their own Biodiversity action plan (BAP), are a red book species in the United Kingdom and even...